


Come into my bed Faceless Stranger

by Pleasedial123



Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBUs are Spooks, Anbu Yamato | Tenzou, Anbu kiba, BAMF Sakura, F/F, F/M, Hinata/Naruto/Sasuke, Hokage Hatake Kakashi, Sakura's House is the unofficial ANBU Medical, Sakura/Everyone, idenity porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:01:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24130237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pleasedial123/pseuds/Pleasedial123
Summary: Sakura's house is declared the unofficial ANBU emergency room and so Sakura sees faceless spooks weekly, slipping into her house in the dead of night. They slip into her life just as quietly. They slip into her bed less silently and more enthusiastically.
Relationships: sakura/multi - Relationship
Comments: 125
Kudos: 1656





	1. Enter Strangers but Heed my Fists

Sakura woke to the feeling of eyes. 

“Hmmm?” she asked drowsily, not at all alarmed.

Standing over her, looming in the darkness was an ANBU. The silver of moonlight seeping through her curtains illuminated the hound lines of the mask. In the darkness they said nothing, simply loomed with purpose. Sakura heard the faintest of movement down the hall, saw the light creeping under her door. She rolled out of the bed, the ANBU moving fluidly like a shadow around her as he continued to hover. 

Sakura yawned and rubbed her hair out of her face. The ANBU hovered over her shoulder and she realized they held in their fists her lounging yukata. She held her arms out and let them slip it on. She tied the front shut as they exited her bedroom together. She found her living room empty, her kotatsu still pilled high with work. In the kitchen she found an ANBU man laid upon her floor, his cloak and shirt gone but his mask firmly in place. 

“Move,” she said, not unkindly, to the other masked ninja holding a wad of cloth to the downed man’s back. 

They moved and when Sakura pulled the wadded gauze away blood flowed out of the wound. She eyed it carefully and let green chakra seep into her hands to diagnose deeper than her eyes could see. She swept a hand away from the wound and carefully checked the paralyzing seal drawn hastily at the base of the man’s spine. It would keep him perfectly still; which was good with a stab wound so close to the spine. 

“Good choice,” she grunted as she let chakra seep into the man, “They would have called for me anyways. It nicked your spine.”

The man was paralyzed and thus couldn’t tense, but she could sense the sudden tension in the room. 

“You’ll recover,” she allayed, “but it’s going to be a few weeks to fully heal.”

She let her medic chakra seep into skin, bone, tissue, as deep as cells as she started to heal the wound. She reached deep, carefully stitching him together, careful to burn out infection and very delicate around something as important as the spine. When she was done she had a faint beading of sweat on her forehead and felt more tired than she had at waking.

She held out a hand and one of the standing ANBU handed her her kit. She dug it open to find sterilized thread and needle. Stitching up the wound took but a few minutes even as tired as she was. Then she wiped the blood away, covered it with gauze, and taped it down. 

“Keep the seal on for the next twelve hours,” Sakura yawned, moving to the sink to wash her hands, “And after that, bed rest for seven days with minimal movement. If you twist that it could tear again.”

She could have healed it shut completely, but physical reminders helped make sure people didn’t push it to far. Moving enough to tear stitches would be the warning that he was getting close to damaging the real injury. 

The two ANBU hovering at the edges of the room swept their partner away, cradling him carefully even as he couldn’t move. Sakura wished him luck, knowing how much she would have hated being paralyzed for over a day. She hoped he trusted his teammates. 

The last ANBU, the leader and the one who had woke her up, hovered at her shoulder still. They helped her clean her kitchen, mopping blood off her tile floor, before following her back to her room. She was yawning aggressively now, jaw aching and eyes tearing with it. The ANBU used gloved hands to untie her obi, covered fingers brushing across her shoulders as they took the yukata off of her. She practically tumbled into bed with their helping hands. 

The ANBU loomed, then leaned closer, mask shifting just enough to reveal a sharp jaw line and nice lips. She leaned into the kiss, taking as much as they allowed as they pressed her down into the bed.

“Sleep,” they murmured into the kiss and she obeyed, falling back into her pillow and letting the world sweep away.

In the morning she found a bouquet of poisonous flowers on her bedside, tied with a pretty red ribbon. 

.--.

It started the seventh night she moved into her own little traditional house down one of the older streets. 

It was an area ravaged by Pein that had been built up quickly because of all the old families and old money that had lived on it previous. Sakura, for her war efforts, had been gifted a small plot of land tucked between two old civilian families. It wasn’t a big enough plot to interest any richer family but it was perfect for a small house. Yamato had even created her house for free, using precious time and energy to create a beautiful little home with a veranda and space for a kotatsu and sliding paper doors. Naruto, with time off to recover from his injuries, had shown up one day with his new arm still stiff and dug her pretty little gardens all around the house. Sasuke had been right behind Naruto, arms full of old tatami matts and a kotatsu taken from an abandon Uchiha home. Kakashi had slumped in with house plants under his arm and Sai had sat on her veranda for hours drawing the most beautiful tigers and birds and flowers she’d ever seen that he hung on her bare walls. Her parents had gifted her a full kitchen and Tsunade had been the one to carry in in old shelves full of her own medical scrolls. Ino had brought a bouquet and an old bedroom set. All her friends had slunk in with a gift of this or that and Sakura had had a full home within a week.

And then, on the seventh night, her house new and full of small things to make it a home, an ANBU had ducked into her room.

They’d woken her gently, a hand on her shoulder, and Sakura had almost taken their head off with a punch out of surprise. 

She’d been naked (she could sleep however she damn wanted in her own home) and surprised, and more than a little angry at being woken at three am. Until she’d dragged a shirt on and followed the ANBU to her living room where a masked man was bleeding out on her tatami matts. 

Sakura’s house you see, was not near the hospital, it was actually in one of the furthest blocks from it. This meant a brisk roof hopping to get to work, but it was good exercise and Sakura had been told by many people it was healthy to have a life outside of said hospital. Her house also just happened to be near the North gate, which many shinobi returned from missions through. ANBU included it seemed. 

Sakura had healed the man all the while shouting at the silent masked team that they were all idiots and if they ever bled all over her nice new tatami matts again she’d gut them. 

The next day, Sasuke, who came by for tea since he had little else to do still under probation, remarked on the best way to get blood out of tatami matts. Which was just morbid, and she let him know that. She’d distracted him by dropping piles of paperwork over the spot and challenging him to Go. The next morning she found her tatami matts blood free. She also found an old sleeping yukata hung on the back of her door to tug on when she woke up. She knew neither were from Sasuke. 

The ANBU became more common late night visitors but they had the decency to bleed on her easily cleaned kitchen tile now.

She kept sleeping naked because fuck you it was her own home and she was not ashamed.

.--.

With uninvited visitors dropping in on random nights at random times, it was inevitable that they would end up barging in at the wrong times. 

“Seriously,” Sakura demanded, “Did you have to knock him out?”

She looked down at the attractive civilian man she’d been about to pin to the bed, and who was now sprawled unconscious on her floor, and sighed. 

“Can you drop him back off at the bar then?”

The masked ANBU nodded and Sakura pulled her sleeping yukata on, leaving the ANBU to deal with her would-be-bed partner. She went to go find the rest of the team sitting in her kitchen. Sakura looked at the blood gushing down the one’s back and sighed, moving to grab her stitching kit. As she pulled her equipment out and got to work the first ANBU returned, slipping silently in the window. 

“Sit still,” Sakura hissed, “I swear, you’re worse than genin.”

The ANBU stilled but a moment and then kept wiggling in discomfort. She rolled her eyes behind their back and continued her neat little stitches. They’d been flayed, or near to it, and Sakura was putting her twentieth stitch into the skin of their back. If they had been more willing to go to the hospital they would have gotten anthesia or local freezing. They came to her so they got cold hands and no sympathy instead. 

Sakura finished her stitching, disinfected the whole area and then nodded to the ANBU. He, or maybe She, stood and pulled down the thick armoured black shirt (that had a few more tears in it now). Sakura was sort of impressed by how armoured ANBU truly were, regular cloth inked with seals to be like chain mail. Whatever had punched through this one’s armour would have sliced through steel like butter. They were lucky they had escaped with light flaying. 

Sakura was also impressed by how well the ANBU outfits really did make all the members look like spooks, all androgynous and similar behind uniforms and masks. Even hair revealed very little; Sakura had been close enough to see dye. 

Three of the ANBU disappeared out her window like ghosts but one remained. Sakura raised brow at the obvious Leader until they held out a small kit. She took it curiously and realized it was a fully stocked stitching kit. Sakura knew how expensive proper thread for stitching flesh shut was. She gave them an appreciative glance. 

Sakura was given a lot of leeway on what supplies she was given by the hospital every month, but even she would have to start justifying it if she started taking out supplies enough to make her own clinic; which is what she was going to have to do if ANBU kept stopping by.

She really should be going to Tsunade about that to start discussing the option of requesting more supplies, but she’d been putting it off for the simple reason she didn’t want to make the ninja of Konoha think her house was an okay alternative to the hospital. She already treated her friends too often, and now ANBU. There was a hospital and proper procedures for a reason, and Sakura was already overworked. Tsunade had to know about the ANBU anyhow (Sakura had been given a bit more leeway than usual in her supply stocking). 

“Thank you,” she told the ANBU as she turned to stash the kit in the cupboard that was now just medical supplies instead of dishes. 

When she turned back she found the ANBU still there, which was unusual since they usually just vanished. 

“Did you have something you wanted me to look at as well?” she asked. 

The ANBU was silent and still and Sakura knew they was probably debating whether of not to say anything. Finally, they held out a wrist, pushing their shirt sleeve up and peeling the glove back slightly. Sakura took a quick look at the tensor bandage about the wrist and then took it in hand, letting medical chakra seep in. 

“Sprained,” she told them, healing it even as she announced it, “You know if I’m already awake and doing stuff I don’t mind healing little things right? Just because it isn’t life threatening doesn’t mean I’ll ignore it.”

Which was a bit of a white lie. She’d left them with plenty of scrapes and bruises (petty revenge), but a sprained wrist was more of a concern for someone who needed quick reflexes. Sakura healed the wound easily and then unwrapped the tensor bandaged and rerolled it. The ANBU watched, rolling the wrist carefully before stretching it and pulling the sleeves back down. 

Sakura stashed the tensor bandage in her medic cupboard, taking it as payment for the healed wrist, and when she turned around the ANBU was right in front of her. She didn’t yelp but it was a close thing. The ANBU leaned even closer and Sakura refused to back away. One hand raised to gently tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. Then it moved and skewed the mask just enough to reveal a pretty mouth.

“Thank you,” the person, woman or man she couldn’t tell.

“It was a simple sprain,” Sakura said just as quaintly.

“No. For everything,” the ANBU murmured leaning even closer.

They telegraphed their movement and Sakura saw it coming a mile away. She could have turned away, pulled back, or smiled it off. Instead she let them kiss her. It was a soft gentle kiss and Sakura closed her eyes and leaned up into it. Gloved hands found her waist, pulled her close and Sakura reached up to cup the back of their neck. There was a tremble and Sakura pushed back, deepened the kiss.

“I’ll heal anyone you bring to me,” Sakura whispered into their lips. 

Sakura knew what it was like to see a teammate injured, to see blood and fear the worse. She’d just learned how to heal to fight those worries. She tried to imagine being a masked team, watching a member fall in the dark of night and not knowing if they were really okay, knowing if they died no one would know why or how. 

“Thank you,” the ANBU repeated and pressed her to the counter, hands slipping into the loosely tied yukata. 

Sakura’s breath caught as gloved hands brushed across her stomach. 

“Is this your way of saying sorry for scaring my company away?”

The ANBU said nothing simply slid gloved hands across her skin. Sakura, now wide awake, kissed them deeply quite aware she had no idea who this ANBU was. 

The thing was Sakura had went to find a pretty civilian in a bar because she was horny and wanted company. If that stranger would have been fine, then this one was as well. And by the eager hands slipping across her thighs was an indication, they wanted this as well. 

“Bedroom,” Sakura demanded. 

Sakura was not all surprised to be swept off to her room, a blindfold finding its way across her eyes as she lost her sleeping yukata. She didn’t even protest, simply made sure the ANBU knew she wouldn’t peek. She heard the sound of armour hitting the floor, the sound of clothes following and then there was flesh against flesh, a small hand tracing up the scars across her hip. 

Sakura reached up, pulled the person into another kiss and then dragged her hands down over a prominent collar bone and across soft breasts. The ANBU gave a soft moan as Sakura let her mouth find the woman’s throat and then down and down. Sakura nipped at her cleavage and the woman let her fingers dip lower to Sakura’s thighs. 

The ANBU never said a word, only soft breathless noises and Sakura was impressed with her dedication to not even give Sakura a hint of what she really sounded like outside of the voice modulating seals etched on her ANBU mask.

.--.

The ANBU visitors didn’t come every night, not even every second or third night. She went as long as a week with no late-night visitors in fact. Which was good because Sakura did indeed have a life outside of healing. 

“You lose!” Naruto crowed.

Sasuke glowered at him and eyes the cards suspiciously, sharingan activated. 

“He didn’t cheat,” Kakashi smiled. 

Sasuke glowered harder but slid the winnings over to Naruto. 

“See why no one is dumb enough to bet anything when playing Naruto,” Sakura said. 

“You lost your own snacks,” Sai pointed out to keep her humble.

“Yeah, but nothing I didn’t care to lose,” Sakura said as Naruto scooped up his pile of winnings; bags of snacks. 

Sai lifted the sake jug and Sakura held her cup out, letting him pour her a drink. He offered it to Kakashi next who also accepted. He pointedly offered none to Naruto (who had beat him early in the card game) or Sasuke (who he liked to antagonize). 

“Another round?” Naruto waggled his brows.

“Nope,” Kakashi said.

“Naw,” Sakura agreed.

Sai simply smiled and Sasuke glowered, looking at the pile of snacks before deciding it wasn’t worth it. It was just in time because there was a faint knock at the front door. Sakura stood, careful to watch her footing as she cut across her rather messy and crowded living room. She’d shoved all her work onto the shelves for the night but beer cans and snacks littered the floor as well as flak vests and headbands and ninja sandals. 

“Hello Hinata,” Sakura greeted as she opened the door.

“Sakura,” Hinata smiled kindly.

“Naruto! Your wife is here to get you!” Sakura called back. 

Hinata flushed at the title, still pleased and embarrassed to be called thus.

“Hinata!” Naruto bolted upright. 

He tripped, stumbled, and practically fell into her arms. 

“You’re early,” he rubbed his cheek to hers.

“I’m right on time Naruto,” she smiled happily, “You said no later than one am.”

“It’s already one?”

“Yes,”

“We’d better go home then,” he declared, “Sasuke! Time to go!”

Sasuke stood with only the slightest bit of wobble. He was thoughtful enough to grab all of Naruto’s snack along with his jacket and headband, stuffing them in a bag Sakura offered. Hinata bowed a thanks to Sakura and set off with one of Naruto’s hands in her and the bag in the other, Naruto’s other hand wrapped firmly around Sasuke’s only hand. Sakura waved them off with a warm smile. 

“Mah, isn’t that a happy sight,” Kakashi smiled from where he was stretched across her floor enough to watch them leave as well.

“I’m happy for them,” Sakura agreed.

“Are you?” Sai asked as he crouched beside the kotatsu to pick up some wrappers. 

“Yeah,” Sakura said honestly.

“I thought you liked Sasuke,” he commented as he tidied up.

Sakura meandered back to her seat and flopped down, picking her sake cup up and watching as Sai acted like a housewife whose husband had friends over. He always kept the place tidy during their parties and always kept their drinks flowing. 

“That ship sailed years ago,” Sakura said, “A little girls crush intensified by being teammates. We agreed we are better as teammates.”

Which was true. After the war there had been one awkward date before Sakura realized she held a lot of anger and disappointment in regard to Sasuke. There was love because some part of her would always love him, but Sakura had grown up. She’d grown and changed, and she liked who she was; and that was not a housewife who would retire to have kids for someone like Uchiha Sasuke. Besides that, Sasuke had also grown up and realized there were a few glaring problems with his reviving clan mission; mainly he was absolutely gone for Naruto. 

Luckily Naruto had realized as well. As for Hinata, well, Naruto had very few limits on how many and how much he could love and he loved Hinata and Sasuke equally for different reasons. Lucky for all of them, Hinata loved him enough to watch him love more than just her and Sasuke didn’t care as long as he could stay at Naruto’s side. Some people who knew about that little circle watched it like it was a primed exploding tag; waiting for it to blow up in all their faces. 

But it was working. Really well. 

Sakura was just happy her boys were happy. 

“How about you Sai, any lucky lady? Or man?” Sakura asked.

“Not at this time. I will update you if it changes,” Sai smiled.

“If you want me to help set you up on a date...” Sakura said.

“Did you have someone in mind?” he raised a brow.

“Give me a couple days,” Sakura grinned like a wolf.

“Mah, my cute little students, off finding love,” Kakashi smiled. 

“I’m good for now,” Sakura denied.

Kakashi raised a brow and then tapped his nose. Sakura rolled her eyes, very aware she probably smelled like sex to his nose, or at least her room just down the hall did.

“Not love,” she shrugged.

“Well, as long as you’re happy, and staying safe.”

She gave him a playful shove and finished her sake. 

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

They all turned to the veranda door and Yamato sleepily offered a smile as he slipped in.

“You just missed Naruto and Sasuke,” Sakura informed him as Sai got another can of beer out of the fridge. 

“Next time I’ll be here early,” he promised.

He shed the dark heavy cloak off his back and sat across from Sakura at the kotatsu. 

“It’s chilly out there,” Sakura said watching the cloak get tucked aside, the faint hints of a white mask folded away.

“Getting colder,” Yamato agreed, “We might even get a dusting of snow this year.”

“Doubt it,” Kakashi said rolling onto his side, “They said this will be the coldest it will be for a while.”

Sai brought Yamato a can of beer and Yamato gave him a smile before downing it. 

“Do you want snacks?” Sai asked, “We saved you some.”

“I can get them,” Yamato said as Sai went for the kitchen.

Sakura and Kakashi watched the two amble off to the kitchen. 

“He’ll be a good housewife,” Kakashi said.

Sakura agreed with a grin. 

“Hey, quick question,” Sakura said as she heard Yamato and Sai start chatting in the kitchen, “You’re not in ANBU any longer right?”

“No,” Kakashi shook his head easily, “Tsunade won’t let me go back in; something about mental health.”

Which Sakura had figured. Kakashi was still skilled enough but he’d been pushed to far too many times. He didn’t need that stress in his life anymore. Also because Kakashi was next in line to be Hokage. At least for a year or two while Naruto trained up. Kakashi denied that idea wholeheartedly, but Sakura was still Tsunade’s student (she always would be) and she knew her master was slowly transitioning out of the Kage role. Kakashi could deny it right up until he was behind that desk wearing the hat. They’d probably have to drag him there anyway. 

“Is Sai?” Sakura asked.

“No. None of the ROOT transitioned into ANBU. It would have done the opposite of reverse their conditioning. Some would have done better to stay in that lifestyle, but it was agreed for everyone else’s peace of mind that they be integrated into the regular force,” Kakashi said.

Sakura wondered at his easy admittance of such classified information. Well, she supposed they all trusted one another that much. If they didn’t Sakura wouldn’t have even caught a glimpse of Yamato’s mask. ANBU were too good to let things like that slip. 

“Just Yamato then,” Sakura said wondering if she’d treated him as any of her late-night visitors. 

Doubtful; she’d have recognized his chakra signature while healing at least. You could suppress chakra all you wanted but healing was far to intimate to hide it. Sakura would have known it was him the moment her chakra slipped into him. 

So no, he hadn’t been healed in her kitchen in the middle of the night. Yet.

That didn’t mean he hadn’t been in her bed though.

“Heavy thoughts?” Kakashi asked, eyeing her.

“Good ones,” Sakura corrected, a smile curling onto her lips. 

Yamato and Sai returned to the room with handfuls of snacks Sai had hidden from their games and a new round of beers. Sakura made eye contact with Yamato and he smiled. She smiled back. 

.--.

Sakura crashed into the back of her counter, hands tangled in dark hair, and gave a faint hint of a growl. Hands tightened around her hips and the man pressed against her, pinning her harshly against the edge of the counter. He kissed her just as harshly, unyielding against her. 

“I need to wash the blood off,” Sakura groaned, breaking the kiss.

The man she’d been healing was sitting up off the floor, looking dazed and awed. She couldn’t see his face but she could read it in his posture. His one teammate hovered at his side, prayers slipping through his modulated voice like sobs. The blood on her floor was thick and vivid against the white tile. If they had been five minutes later he would have bled out. 

The Tiger-masked ANBU pinning her to the countertop, panted against her.

“Get him to the hospital. He needs a blood transfusion. And don’t let him walk himself. He shouldn’t even be sitting up like that,” Sakura ordered.

The praying ANBU grabbed their healed companion and took off out the window. Sakura let her head hit the cupboards behind her and felt the trembles work themselves up her arms. That had been an intense few minutes. If they had been any later…Sakura didn’t think about it. All that mattered was she’d healed him. He’d be fine once he got a blood transfusion and IV and some rest. She’d used up a large chunk of her chakra on that emergency healing and most of her nerves as well.

Most of the cases slipping in her window were dire but manageable, with a few less dire things. The real emergencies though…. Well nothing like being woken at 2am to save a man from death’s door. 

The ANBU kissed her again and she made a faint protesting noise.

“Wait,” she murmured.

They didn’t wait, pressing against her as if they were going to consume her.

A moment later they were ripped off.

“She said _wait_ ,” the last ANBU said, snarling through the Mouse mask.

Tiger, who had been kissing her slouched, shame in their posture as they bowed their head to Sakura.

“It’s okay,” Sakura shook her head, knowing the adrenaline pumping through both of them. 

She moved to her sink, washing the flecks of blood off her hands and arms. She found splatters of it on her clothes as well and knew it was from the close contact with the armour the ANBU kissing her had worn. 

“Go see your teammates,” Sakura told the ANBU, “You need that more than a good fuck right now. If you need one of those afterwards, come back another night.”

As much as she wanted to be pinned down and used, adrenaline surging through both of them, she knew she was too tired and they too high strung. Mouse bowed to her, hand still clamped on Tiger’s shoulder to force them to do the same. 

Sakura carefully stepped over the splatters of blood and swayed her way back to her room.

The next morning, she found her floors pristine. On her table sat a large bouquet of tiger lilies; almost like an apology and a thank you.

.--.

Sakura blinked in shock to find an ANBU sitting at her kotatsu. She glanced out the window but the sun was still up. She supposed people did get injured during the day-time, but ANBU made her think of dark nights more than naught these days. 

The ANBU bowed their head in greeting, a cup of tea on the table.

“Did you make enough for me?” she asked.

They bowed and pushed a second cup forward that had been hidden by a stack of papers. Sakura dropped her bag by the wall and shucked her lab coat off. She had to shove paperwork aside to make room for herself at the kotatsu. She sipped the tea and made an appreciative noise as she found it was a very nice lavender hinted green. 

“Did you have an injury?” Sakura asked after they had drank in silence for a few minutes.

“I came to apologize,” the ANBU bowed their head. 

Their mask was printed like a Falcon’s, but something about their posture reminded her of the Mouse masked ANBU of last week. 

“You don’t have to,” she said simply.

“I do. We have taken advantage of your kindness and it has led to a belief that we may take advantage of you in other ways.”

“I don’t feel taken advantage of,” she said, slightly amused. 

“Some of the men have went too far,” they said.

“No,” she said simply (best nip that thought in the bud), “Nothing I have not welcomed has been done. If they don’t respect me, I am strong enough to kick them out of here. But no one has disrespected me yet. Tiger came close but you stopped them before I did, and be assured I will indeed stop them.”

They said nothing, simply stared at her.

“You will inform us if anyone goes too far,” they said, “We do not doubt your strength but you should not have to use it. We understand we are guests in your home and under your mercy.”

“Send me your people and I will heal them,” Sakura said, “Tell them they don’t have to come only in the middle of the night either; if I am home I will treat them. I will not turn away the injured out of any sort of offence.”

“Thank you, Sakura-sama,” they bowed their head.

They gave her a fist to the heart salute and finished their tea before vanishing. Sakura finished her tea more slowly running the meeting over again in her ahead. Because it had been a meeting. Sama they’d called her as well. Sakura wondered if that made this whole arrangement more official, especially with her now openly-said invitation. 

.--.

“Please,” he begged, “Oh god, please.”

“Such a good boy,” Sakura purred, “You beg so prettily.”

The ANBU on her bed moaned, trying to buck into her, but Sakura had tied her ropes tight enough. He was pinned to her bed, fully armoured and fully clothed except where his pants were pushed down to let his cock free. His mask had been tilted just enough she could access his mouth; she’d enjoyed it thoroughly. 

“Please,” the ANBU begged again, voice breaking.

“Only if you sit still like a good boy,” she hummed, tossing a leg over his hips.

He stilled but whimpered. She sunk slowly down on him, moaning happily. When he tried to thrust further into her she pinned his hips down.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Sakura tsked, “I said sit still.”

The noise he made shot straight down to her belly but Sakura didn’t move an inch, refusing to sink deeper onto him until he stilled. He finally got himself under enough control to hold himself still. His fingers were white on her headboard, bound arms making the angle uncomfortable. 

Sakura sunk down more slowly, enjoying the way he bit his lip and tensed to stop from moving.

“Good boy,” she murmured as she sank to the hilt.

She started to ride him eagerly and the sounds he made had her panting.

.--.

“I heard these guys have been bothering you lately,” Tsunade said one day, flapping a hand at her silent guards. 

“No one bothers me without my permission,” Sakura said bluntly, putting another paper before her mentor.

Tsunade signed the paper with a flourish but her eyes never left Sakura as she scrutinized her. 

“I told them they could see you for emergencies, but I hear you gave them permission to see you for other injuries as well.”

“If I have time,” Sakura shrugged, “It’s easy enough, not like I’m saving my chakra these days.”

“Well, tell Shizune to give you more supplies for your house. I hope they aren’t making a mess of your place.”

“They keep it neat and tidy. Practically clean my kitchen for me every week.”

“Hmm. Well tell them to buzz off if they start to get annoying,” Tsunade said, “There is a hospital for a reason.”

Sakura nodded and took another signed paper. And that was that. The ANBU standing guard didn’t act like they had heard any of that, but Sakura knew every ANBU would know they had permission from their Kage to keep seeing Sakura; as a shadow group that took orders only from Tsunade and used secrecy as both a defence and an offence, they had to have direct orders to let anyone in on any aspect of the organization. She wasn’t about to learn any identities, but they would indeed seek her out for treatment with no worry.

While Sakura had extended the invitation Tsunade had just rubber stamped it. 

.--.

“Let me buy you a drink.”

Sakura looked up and found herself looking up at Shiranui Genma. He was in his usual get-up, senbon on his lip. He was leaning over the bar, close to her shoulder, close enough she could hear the click of his senbon against his teeth. There was also something in his gaze that had Sakura remembering that he had once been an ANBU, in the Hokage’s personal guard; and no one had ever mentioned him quitting.

“Sure,” Sakura smiled.

Genma leaned across the bar to wave down the bartender. Shikamaru, who she had been bitching about paperwork with, looked between them. 

“I didn’t realize you and Genma knew each other well,” he remarked. 

“Oh you know,” Sakura said, “I’ve seen him around.”

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. When Genma set one of her favorite beers (one she usually kept stocked in her fridge) down in front of her Shikamaru groaned. 

“Troublesome.”

“Oh hush you,” Sakura said with a wink at Genma. 

Genma smirked but didn’t linger to chat her up like she’d assumed. Instead he brushed her hair aside, tucked it behind her ear, and disappeared after some friends at the dart board. She ran a hand across her cheek where his fingers had slipped and smiled faintly. She turned back to Shikamaru to continue their bitch-fest about paperwork. 

When her drink ran empty another was set in front of her without prompting. The bartender gave a faint nod to a man beside Genma that Sakura was sure she’d never met before. He smiled at her and she watched the way he shifted his shoulders and how familiar it looked. He didn’t come over either. Shikamaru groaned further but Sakura was quite happy when her drinks kept getting filled for free.

.--.

The curse of being a medic was sometimes it wasn’t enough; sometimes you couldn’t save everyone. 

“I’m sorry,” Sakura said softly into the din.

The three shadows standing around her said nothing as Sakura reached up and closed the dead man’s eyes. He’d died as they’d entered her home and while they’d tried CPR while she tried to massage his heart into beating, sometimes it was just too late. 

“He…he…” one ANBU muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Sakura repeated.

There was nothing she could have done. He’d been dead before her hands touched him but it still hurt. One of the ANBU sat down heavily, hand reaching for the dead mans. Another simply stood and stared. The last one started to make tea. 

Sakura stepped out of the kitchen to give them their privacy. She retreated to the veranda to stare out across the moonlit garden. The ANBU who made tea joined her, mask tilted and two steaming cups in their hand. They offered her a cup and she took it. When they shut the veranda door she could hear faint sobbing. 

Sakura drank her tea, the ANBU did not.

After a few minutes Sakura took their tea and drank it too. 

“Do you have somewhere to be in the next while?” she asked.

They shook their head, hands cupped on their lap like they didn’t even know what to do with them. Sakura stood and pulled them to their feet. Inside another ANBU team had arrived and were carefully taking the body away. One of the original ANBU followed, still sobbing quietly. The one who had simply been staring let Sakura take their had. She guided both of them down the hall to her bedroom. They let her strip them of their armour, let her divest them of their clothes. And at the very end, after she’d shut the curtains tight and shut off the lights, she tied a blindfold on and stripped them of their masks. 

Then she made them sleep, curled about her, her hands holding theirs. 

When she woke the next morning, she was still entangled in two ANBU, both who clung fiercely. She didn’t remove the blindfold until they woke, until they gave her soft murmurs of thanks and kissed her softly on the cheek before leaving. 

.--.

They wore the Hawk mask but Sakura felt the firm grip of Tiger’s hands; the ANBU who had pinned her to a counter with desperate gratitude. 

“Thank you,” they murmured against her lips, hold just as firm but less harsh.

“I haven’t done anything,” Sakura said into their mouth. 

“You’ve done more than enough,” they corrected. 

An ANBU wearing a Horse mask stood watching with the same posture Mouse had had last time. Hawk pressed her into the kitchen wall carefully, mouth slotting against hers perfectly. Sakura gave a soft sigh of pleasure as hands skimmed across her hips, gently brushing the yukata open. 

“Hawk, let her see your ribs,” Horse finally intervened as the kiss deepened. 

Hawk made a noise of protest but broke away when Horse took one menacing step forwards. Sakura let her hands light green and didn’t even ask the ANBU to step back as she tested his ribs. One was broken, pressing too close to his lungs for comfort, and Sakura healed it with a burst of focused chakra. 

“Good?” Hawk asked eagerly.

“It will be tender for a few days. Try not to hit it,” Sakura said.

Hawk made a dismissive noise and pressed her to the wall again, kissing her.

“If you want Hawk to stop, say the word,” Horse hovered. 

“She likes it,” Hawk snapped at them, pressing Sakura up the wall so she could wrap her legs around their hips.

Despite the mask, Sakura could sense Horse glowering at them. 

“If you feel like you need to stay and keep and eye on them, then you’d best get over here,” Sakura said boldly. 

Horse hesitated but then slowly approached. When they were within reach Sakura grabbed them by their collar and tugged them in for a kiss, hand pushing their mask lopsided. They sighed into the kiss and Hawk kindly leaned aside to give them access to deepen the kiss while still holding Sakura to the wall. 

And then Sakura was being manhandled back to her bedroom. Hawk sat on her bed and pulled Sakura onto their lap, kissing her almost frantically. 

“Ah,” Sakura said as a blindfold was pulled up over her eyes. 

The sound of masks hitting the ground echoed next and then teeth were on her neck. Horse tugged her yukata down and nipped down her spine. Hawk attacked from the front, dragging teeth across her jugular and Sakura shudder under the twin ministrations. Their hands moved in tandem, their bodies flowing around her and Sakura knew they must have worked together for years. 

Sakura couldn’t stop her quick mind from noting that Hawk was covered in the thick muscles of a taijutsu expert while Horse had the muscles of a speed fighter most likely more angled for ninjutsu. 

Any other observations were lost when Hawk drifted further south, mouth find Sakura’s center and his tongue finding her clit. 

.--.

“Hey sweetcheeks,” Inuzuka Kiba greeted her as he tore the jugular out of the ninja coming at Sakura with a scythe.

“Kiba,” she greeted focusing on the civilian under her hands. 

The man was gasping weakly for breath through blood frothed lungs and Sakura was trying to make sure his heart kept beating long enough for him to keep trying to breathe. She kept a faint thread of attention on Kiba and the rest of the threats surrounding her. Tenten came swinging in a minute later, live steel practically singing in her hands as she howled a challenge. 

Sakura tried not to pay attention the dance behind her as Kiba and Tenten tore through the annoying bandit group. Instead she focused her and her three clone’s attention of healing up the civilians laying amongst the chaos. 

She helped the man under her hands roll over and watched him cough up thick wads of blood that had at one point been damaged parts of his lungs. She left his splayed there sucking air in like a man surprised he could breath. The next man had a broken leg and Sakura set it amongst his screams. The woman after that had a gash opening her face from nose to ear and Sakura burned away even the scar under her choking sobs. 

When the last civilian was healed and her clones long since drained she looked away from the caravan to her friends. Kiba was dragging bodies to be burned and Tenten was scavenging them for their steel. 

“Thanks for the assist,” Sakura wheezed, almost out of breath.

“Hey, no problem dollface,” Kiba grinned at her from under freckles of blood, “Maybe you should sit for a moment though.”

Sakura thought that was a good idea and slid down the base of a tree to watch the clean up. 

She must have dozed off at some point because when she next blinked the sun was gone and a fire had been started before her. There was also a wool blanket tucked up around her. Sakura shifted, the blanket falling and found a bottle of water being held out to her. She accepted the water from Tenten who was sitting next to her and chugged it. Beyond the fire she could spot a few more and realized the caravan was all safe and sound, sequestered around fires and celebrating the fact they were still all alive. 

At Sakura’s feet lay an array of gifts. 

“Food?” Kiba offered, holding out a bowl of rice.

“Please,” Sakura said practically inhaling it.

She faintly checked her chakra levels and found them dismally low. Well, that’s what she got for so much emergency healing. Tenten leaned over and stole a bite right off her chopsticks, curling back into Sakura with a content hum.

“Thanks for the assist,” Sakura repeated her earlier sentiment, “Were you running a mission close by?”

“Nah,” Kiba said, “Definitely weren’t doing any missions near by. Tenten and I were just, ah, on vacation.”

She stared at Kiba and his wide fanged grin and tried to piece that together.

“Oh,” she realized, “Vacation, right. Sorry to interrupt.”

She was sure in one of Kiba’s wide coat pockets was a bone white mask with bleeding red lines. Tenten’s would be hidden next to a blade. And of course since they definitely totally were not ANBU and definitely totally not on a mission nearby, they must be on vacation. 

“Here,” Kiba offered her a small smoked fish.

Sakura took it and crunched it thoughtfully. Tenten leaned up sleepily and ate a bite of fish hanging from Sakura’s mouth. If she leaned closer, hummed as their lips pressed, well she was just hungry. Sakura licked her lips as Tenten curled up at her side.

Sakura smiled. They were just making the most of their vacation of course, no need to let anyone know she’d ran into her old friends when they totally definitely were not on a mission. 

.--.


	2. Late Nights

“Something bothering you?” Sakura asked as she washed the blood from her hands. 

The rest of the Team had taken their leave, their injuries cared for (lots of puncture wounds, and she wondered what sort of pit trap had been good enough to get them). The Owl masked ANBU simply stood at the end beside Sakura as if deep in thought. Finally, as Sakura finished drying her hands, they held their arm out. Under his sleeve was a large bruise. Sakura frowned at it and gently prodded it with her fingers. 

Sakura raised a brow at the ANBU and their still posture and wondered at why they had lingered to have a bruise healed. 

“If you want a tumble in bed, you don’t have to have an excuse to linger,” she told him amused. 

There was a shift in posture, a roll of the shoulders and they pushed aside the mask just enough to reveal a jawline and lips. Sakura was caught by the familiarity of the jaw as well as that roll of the shoulders. She knew those revealers. He leaned close, got in her personal space and she blinked up at him as he angled in a way to make his intentions obvious. Finally he held up the bruise.

He was practically bracketing her to the counter, as if just waiting for permission to nudge his way between her knees. But he stopped and held up the bruised arm and waited. It took but a second to heal and wasn’t even bone deep. Her chakra sparked against hers and Sakura knew in an instant who was in front of her. 

“Oh,” she breathed, “Hello.”

He took her surprise as something other than surprise and pushed away from her, taking a step back as if she’d swore at him.

“None of that now,” Sakura tsked, reaching for him, “Don’t be an idiot.”

He came closer again, carefully, hesitantly, reaching for her gently. She clasped his hands and settled them on her hips, cajoling him closer until their breath mingled.

“Thank you for asking for permission,” she told him.

He gave that familiar roll of his shoulders again, much like a sheepish shrug and Sakura smiled fondly. Of course he wouldn’t just slip into her bed under disguise; he was not the sort of man to do something like this under a veil of facelessness. 

She didn’t know how many protocols he had just broken by obviously offering her clues to his identity, but she knew why he had done it.

“You are more than welcome in my bed,” Sakura murmured leaning ever closer.

The first press of their lips was soft and chaste and his grip on her hips did not tighten so much as firm. There was something firm yet shy in all his touches as they made their way to her bedroom. Blinds were drawn and darkness encouraged, but this time no one drew a blindfold over her eyes. 

Sakura kept her eyes closed anyways. 

She drew her hands up his sides, helping divest him of clothes even as she let curious fingers explore. He did the same, palm sliding flat across her back, her side, her breasts. Each touch was shy but firm, curious and yet respectful. 

They took their time, slowly undressing, exploring until at one point Sakura was pressed into the mattress and wide warm hands were stroking her breasts, one hand low with a finger in her cunt and a thumb on her clit.

“Kiss me,” Sakura requested, a demand and a plea in one. 

He kissed her, soft and careful and tentative, as shy as all of his other touches as if he couldn’t quite believe she was letting him do this. While he worked her open she kept kissing him, nipping his lip until he was brave enough to slip tongue in. Her hand tangled in his short hair and drew him close, encouraging him with a cant of her hips as he pulled his fingers out of her. 

When he finally pushed his cock into her she was ready but relaxed, something like giddiness in her stomach as she encouraged him with kisses and little noises, hands stroking his back. When he was fully in her he paused to breathe and she smiled at him, stroking his face.

“Now, fuck me,” she ordered.

He panted once, twice and started to obey, each draw and thrust even and measured and careful, his hands trembling on her breasts, her hips, her ass as if he was struggling for such composure. She wrapped her legs around his waist, put her heels to the back of his thighs to urge him on faster and harder. He resisted her cajoling and kept up the steady pace that was starting to drive her mad. 

And then his hand reached between them and found her clit again and Sakura practically surged against him, bucking as a jolt of pleasure went straight through her. His fingers were as steady and calm as the pace in which he fucked her and no matter how Sakura squirmed and pleaded and twisted, he would not go faster. Every time she pleaded he almost went slower and Sakura kissed him and the smile she could feel. 

He drew her pleasure out slowly, but steadily and Sakura was trembling by the time her orgasm crested with him buried deep inside of her.

“Oh!” Sakura gasped, the noise shocked right out of her. 

She instinctively pulled away, trying to gain distance from the overstimulation, but firm hands held her close. Said hands pinned her hips down, held her down, and made her ride it out. 

“Please,” Sakura choked, whining, “oh please!”

A soft groan echoed above her and the grip tightened as he fucked deeper into her. Sakura shuddered through her orgasm, fighting against him with it, not because she didn’t want it but because it was overwhelming. She arched her back, pushed towards him and away from him at the same time even as her body went taunt. She gasped because that’s all she could do. For a long moment she wavered, overstimulated but gasping for more as she shivered. 

As she gave a soft mewling noise he stiffened and groaned, joining her in that pleasure. For a long second there was stillness as Sakura came down from the high of a really, really nice orgasm. 

“Oh,” she moaned softly, blissed out for a second, “I don’t think I’ve came that hard in a long time.”

The hands around her hips didn’t tighten but they did shift. He made a movement like he was going to stand, to pull away. Sakura let him get as far as pulling out before she trapped him with her hands on his wrists.

“Stay,” she ordered.

He obeyed, his hands gentle as they cupped her face and kissed her.

.--.

“Well, I’m a ho,” Sakura stated.

Hinata’s face didn’t change expression at all as she sipped her tea daintily. But her skin flushed bright red instantly. 

“Did someone call you a ho?” Hinata said, and the word ‘ho’ in her mouth sounded so delicate. 

“No. But I am.” Sakura said resting her face in one propped hand as she looked at Hinata.

Naruto really did know how to pick them. Hinata had always been pretty, but now she was an absolute stunner. She’d been a cute kid, a pretty teen, and was now a gorgeous woman. All wide pale eyes and smooth dark hair and perfect pale skin. Sakura was sure musicians would write songs about the shape of her mouth alone. 

“Do you think you are?” Hinata asked diplomatically.

“Hinata, I’ve had at least twenty strangers in my bed in the past three months.”

The blush somehow got deeper but she still didn’t twitch away from her peaceful expression. 

“There is nothing wrong with being a ho,” Hinata said softly, “You can be whatever you want Sakura. Sleep with whoever you want. But if someone calls you that, you tell me and I will set them straight.”

Sakura smiled at the thought of Hinata reaming someone out for calling her a ho. It didn’t truly bother Sakura anymore if people called her names, but she did enjoy having friends who loved her enough to defend her.

“No one has said it yet,” Sakura assured her, “Well, I mean Ino will when I tell her, but it’s a compliment coming from her.”

Hinata did a delicate shrug of her shoulders that made her look amused. 

“I just got thinking,” Sakura said drinking her cooling tea, “Because I have so many people in and out of my bed, that maybe I’m becoming too hedonistic. I like it. A lot. Never had a better sex life.”

“There is nothing wrong with liking good sex,” Hinata said firmly. 

Sakura reminded herself to congratulate her blond teammate for being smart enough to love a woman like this. 

“Did you want me to tell you otherwise?” Hinata asked her.

The woman had sharp eyes and a sharper intuition. It was why Sakura liked talking with her.

“If I did I would go see Ino,” Sakura teased, “She’ll call me a slut and ask the details, you just reassure me I am entirely normal.”

“Well, maybe not normal,” Hinata teased back, “But I think you are self-aware enough to know if you are happy with your situation.”

Sakura smiled and finished her tea.

“Thanks for the chat,” she told Hinata, “I’m off though. I have to have dinner before I need to go back to the hospital.”

“You could stay for dinner,” Hinata offered, “I was just about to start it.”

“Maybe next time,” Sakura smiled, “I really only have time for a quick snack before I need to hurry off.”

“Next time,” Hinata agreed.

Hinata led her out of the small sitting room and watched as Sakura pulled her sandals on. 

“Sasuke can walk you home,” Hinata told her as she thanked her for the tea.

Sakura raised a brow and opened the door to find Sasuke leaning against the gate entrance. 

“Sure,” she agreed.

Hinata waved them off, standing in the entrance to the Uzumaki house. The pretty little traditional home, made many years ago for Senju Mito and then passed on to Uzumaki Kushina, was a beautiful home, and Hinata made it more so.

Sakura waved and fell into step with Sasuke. Sasuke gave her a bare flicker of his eyes before focusing on the road. 

“How have you been?” Sakura asked politely.

“Hn.”

“Good, good,” Sakura nodded as if he had said something deep and meaningful.

He was such a brat. 

“Hey Sasuke,” she said, “Do you think I’m a ho?”

Naruto had a type, Sakura realized inanely. He liked them dark haired and stupidly pretty, but easily embarrassed. Sasuke’s whole face was redder than the tomatoes he loved and his pace sped up just the slightest bit as if he could outrun this question. 

“Yes,” he grumbled.

“Ha! At least I can trust you to tell me the truth!” she cackled slapping him on the back.

“If you think you are, you are,” he told her, “But not…”

He blushed again, looking away as if to hide the flush to his cheeks but she could see it at the tips of his ears.

“Its not a bad thing to be,” he groused. 

“Ah, thanks for being supportive of me,” she cooed, “I’ll make sure to tell Naruto you are happy with me being a ho.”

Sasuke shot her a look of murder and she cackled most of the way home.

.--.

“Stop,” Sakura commanded.

He did not stop, pressing forward and breath escaping in something close to a hiss.

“I said stop,” Sakura said with steel in her tone. 

His hand came at her from a blind spot, reaching for her hair and Sakura felt fingers brush against it before she lost her patience. The noise he made when she slammed him into the wall by his throat was not an annoyed demanding hiss but one of pain. 

“I told you to stop,” Sakura said nearly crushing his throat with her grip.

He scrabbled at her wrist, fingers trying to tear at her skin. Sakura shook him like a dog until he stopped. When he was senseless with limited air and the shaking she dragged him from her house into the middle of the dark empty street. 

She flared her chakra in a basic code of ‘assistance needed – threat low’ for the city night patrols. She waited, reaching out her limited chakra senses, and frowned as she felt the chunin patrol along the wall move further away from her instead of coming closer. Less than ten seconds later, less than thirty seconds after her call for assistance, Sakura was surrounded by an ANBU patrol. The four bone white masks almost reflected the moonlight from the clear sky while their cloaks acted as shadows. They were eerie in the dark, like spooks from a fairy tale come to take the bad children away. 

Sakura tossed their compatriot to the ground at their feet and ignored his wheezing for breath. 

“Your bitch does not understand the meaning of ‘no’,” Sakura said, some faint anger lingering in her words, “If I find him in my home again I will kill him.”

For a long moment there was silence. And then two of the ANBU hauled the one she’s thrown up and their grip did not look kind.

“He will be dealt with,” Bull said, tone even but something aggressive in his posture. 

“See that he is,” Sakura said without mercy.

They were gone a moment later and Sakura stomped her way back into her home. A man who did not respect a woman like her, a woman who was firmly on his side and was more than willing to help out, would only be worse to others less powerful than her. That was not an attitude she would allow to be nestled in something as powerful as ANBU. 

The next morning a bouquet of flowers was on her table, right beside a cracked mask. 

.--.

Kakashi was ceremonially made Hokage on a sunny Thursday. He was, of course, late to his own ceremony and only showed up because Sakura and Naruto were bracketing him, their fingers holding him with bone-crushing grip as they smiled prettily at the crowd. Kakashi wore his robes ill, like he’d been shoved into them, but no one remarked on it nor the way Sakura never let go of his elbow for even a moment. 

“Why do you hate your poor sensei?” Kakashi asked, mouth twisted in a wounded expression as soon as he was away from the cheering crowd.

“Remember every time you were three hours late for our meetings?” Sakura chirped.

“Or making us run drills until we puked?” Naruto cheered.

“Or when you threw us in that swamp?”

“D-rank Tora missions back to back?”

“Leaving us with every lunch bill?”

“Testing our reflexes at 3am?”

“Or-” Sakura stared.

“Okay, okay,” Kakashi relented, “But I don’t think any of that, even combined, holds up to this torture.”

“But it’s such a prestigious rank, Hokage-sama,” Sakura gasped, “It’s not torturous! It’s an acknowledgment of your prowess.”

He gave her a pained expression and she responded with a gloating smirk. 

“Don’t worry! You still have us to help out!” Naruto cheered.

“I’m so comforted,” Kakashi said dryly.

“Hey!” Naruto said, offended.

“He’s actually not that bad as an assistant,” Sakura said in Naruto’s defence, “Put him in charge of your meetings and make him your spokesperson. I can handle the day to day paperwork with you. I’ve already told the hospital I’m taking a break.”

“Can they manage without you?” Kakashi asked, curious.

He knew exactly how much she did there.

“Shizune ‘retired’ with Shisho,” Sakura said, “And said she’d take my place in the hospital for now. When Shisho is finished her week-long bender of a celebration for getting out of the office with her life, she’ll help Shizune out.”

“You just had to remind me of the death-rate of this profession,” Kakashi sighed.

“We’ll keep you safe Hokage-sama.”

Sakura was the only one who didn’t flinch at Tenzo’s appearance since she’d seen him coming. Even Kakashi twitched as Tenzo leveled a smug but creepy smile at him. 

“Ah, Kohai,” Kakashi teased, “You’ll keep the big bad guys away from me?”

“Yes Hokage-sama,” Sai agreed as he slunk out of the shadows, “I’ve already agreed to join your night security detail.”

“Wait,” Kakashi said, “I don’t need a night security detail.”

“But Hokage-sama,” Naruto gasped, “this is such a dangerous profession and you’re such a valuable man. Of course you’ll have around the clock security.”

Kakashi glanced at the window and Sakura tightened her grip on his elbow until he yelped.

“No running Hokage-sama,” she said lowly, “Or we will have to chase you. And you don’t want to know what I would do if I caught you.”

“You can’t threaten me in front of my security detail,” Kakashi whined.

“Did Sakura threaten you, Hokage-sama?” Sai asked, “I thought it was friendly team banter.”

“She’s your physician, so she of course is invested in your health, Hokage-sama,” Tenzo added, “Any threat she must make is just teasing.”

“Please stop calling me that,” Kakashi sighed in defeat. 

“Not as long as it makes you uncomfortable,” Sakura smiled, “It’s too much fun.”

They dragged him to his new office and Sakura could practically see his soul leaving his body at the awaiting stack of paperwork.

“Ah,” Sakura said cheerfully, “Look at how little work you have to start!”

Kakashi stared at the mountain of scrolls and papers and tried to play dead. 

.--.

“Tea?” Sakura asked.

The shadow on her veranda solidified and she raised a brow at the masked ANBU. He entered slowly, carefully picking his way through the piles of paperwork. Despite lowering her work at the hospital Sakura had jumped straight into another office that ran on paperwork. And she’d rather work from the comfort of home than the office. 

The ANBU looked at the doors and she waved a hand. She’d left them open to allow the breeze in, the night the perfect temperature to enjoy as she sat and did her work.

“Tea,” she offered again, pouring them a cup as she retook her seat at the low table.

They accepted but did not drink, just held it.

“Did you just get off shift?” she asked idly as she looked over the report under her own tea.

Silence. She hummed, undisturbed and sipped her tea as she finished the page. The ANBU sat silently as she finished the folder of work before her. She didn’t catch him drinking but when he set the cup down it was empty. She finally closed the folder and the ANBU shifted closer, tilting his mask. She met him in a kiss, his posture angled as a shy request.

“Let’s go to bed,” she smiled at him, “And see if you can give me a better orgasm than last time.”

He readily followed her.

.--.

“What’s all this?” Kakashi asked idly one day as he flipped through a folder.

“What is what?” Sakura hummed as she flipped through her own work, shuffling files as she looked for what needed signatures.

“You are getting allotted an indecent amount of medical supplies,” he said, “And I know you have the best med-kit out there, prepared for every situation, but you’re getting allotments every month and you haven’t been out on a mission for nearly a year.”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Sakura asked slightly surprised.

She’d just assumed Kakashi had known about the whole ANBU situation because he usually knew everything. But maybe the spooks had really kept their mouths shut. 

He stared at her and she stared back for a long moment, enjoying his annoyance at being called out on not knowing something. 

“My place has become the mostly-official ANBU med center,” Sakura said, “Started with emergencies and then Tsunade gave unofficial permission for them to come to me for most of their medical needs post-mission. I’ve got them trained to even clean my floors for me now.”

Kakashi stared at her. 

“You’re not ANBU though?” he finally asked lightly. 

Sakura set her folder down to give him a reassuring look.

“No.”

He nodded once and she could see the relieved posture in his shoulders. Some people liked to see ANBU as part of the skill ranking, putting them above ANBU and under Hokage in terms of power, but that wasn’t true. ANBU were a step outside of the rankings and while they were all highly specialized, she’d seen ANBU that were only chunin on average for many skills. No, what made ANBU ANBU was the skills to do dirty work. ANBU were meant to be the shadow and the dagger in the night. They got shit done. 

ANBU were often picked and groomed for singular skills that helped them get the real dirty work done; skills in assassination, in clean-up, in anything that made them discreet and useful. They didn’t care what skills you started with as long as you showed potential. ANBU liked to play the long game and train their operatives up as much as they could and as much as they would allow. And then they sent you out to be Konoha’s blade. It was why ANBU was killer on mental health; you did the worst of the worst and never let anyone know. It was why ANBU was feared; there was no hesitation, no appealing to any mercy, just a quick blade in the dark. 

Of course, the discreet part didn’t always work. Some missions required a statement. And ANBU needed to be just visible enough to make them feared. That’s why after their service, certain identities were let slip. Everyone knew Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi had been ANBU and that had been done on purpose, to show the kind of people they had under those masks. 

It certainly wasn’t a division for everyone and Sakura knew exactly how bad Team Seven would do in ANBU. Naruto would plain be destroyed by being forced to do such work; his kind heart would break. Sasuke would be consumed by it, as would Sai, both men invested until nothing of themselves was left. Sakura, who admittedly had a temper, would chafe against any order that went against her nindo. She knew she was too obstinate to take orders blindly to commit atrocities.

ANBU was needed, but it didn’t need Team Seven. 

Sakura did have the feeling it would change though, optimistic in the sense of peace seeping into the world. ANBU would be needed less and less she hoped. By the time Naruto was Kage, she hoped he’d never have to order them to do some of the terrible things former Kage’s had had to; razing villages, killing babes in the cradle, suicide runs, the like. 

“I’m not ANBU,” Sakura reassured Kakashi, “But they are definitely mine now. You better sign that paper to continue allowing me medical supplies or so help me Kakashi-sensei, I will burn your Icha Icha collection.”

He made some noise of protest but he was smiling as he signed the continuation form. In the shadows, the personal protection squad of ANBU faintly angled towards Sakura. It was as much of a nod of recognition she’d get while they were on the job. 

.--.

Sakura desperately tried to force the Snake masked ANBU’s chest to rise.

“Fucking breathe!” she demanded.

His body convulsed with her compression but did not breathe and Sakura yelled in frustration as she slammed another compression into his chest. She was dizzy with the adrenaline, her heart beating quickly with the adrenaline. She hated waking up to lost causes. But he’d only stopped breathing a minute before the pair slammed into her kitchen so there was still hope. She gave him another breath, another compression and for a brief moment his chest rose…

A sword slammed down into his chest, just shy of Sakura’s fingers and she flinched back like a green genin. 

“What the fuck!?” Sakura demanded as she threw herself backwards, hands rising already coated in a chakra scalpel. 

The second ANBU, dog masked and unfamiliar in posture, ripped the sword from their companion’s chest and an arc of blood flickered through the air. Sakura shoved to her feet, braced and ready to fight when the ANBU slammed their sword back into the dead man’s throat and ripped. The blood splashed against her kitchen tile and Sakura didn’t waste another moment as she threw herself forward. 

The world lurched even as she raised her fist and scalpel. The world lurched and twisted and Sakura blinked to find herself looking up at the ceiling.

“What?” she slurred, mouth lax and loose. 

Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and she couldn’t feel her lips even as her heart kept jack-rabbiting. Something was binding her wrists to her ankles, forcing her body to arch awkwardly. 

The dog masked ANBU reached up and tugged their mask off and a pretty face smiled back at Sakura.

“The poison took longer than I thought,” the woman said, “I’ve heard of your healing abilities Haruno, but I am still surprised at how good they are. I killed that man with ringed-octopus poison and you almost got his heart beating again. 

Blue ringed-octopus poison, Sakura though muddily. It must have been on his lips and when she’d breathed in to try and make his chest rise it had gotten into her blood. Her body was used to healing itself, was used to doing it under trying circumstance and as distracted as she was trying to save the other man she hadn’t even felt her body fighting it. She’d been too distracted, too high on the adrenaline of losing someone, and she’d missed the signs. She was a fucking idiot. 

Her blood felt like it was burning as her chakra fought the invasion of poison. She shuddered in her bindings, helpless against the tremors.

“I won’t be able to fake those abilities,” the woman hummed, “But I’ve heard you haven’t been in the hospital in months. All I need is a few days.”

She pulled her gloves off, tucked her hair behind her ear and looked Sakura over. 

“We’re the same height so that’s good,” the woman murmured, “Pretty similar build too, though I could never hope for that muscle definition. You really must be as strong as the rumors say.”

She’s going to impersonate me, Sakura thought rather hazily as she tried to focus on the poison in her blood. If she could purge the poison she could then use her chakra to signal for ANBU. She already knew they kept a close watch on her house during patrols. As soon as she wasn’t distracted with trying to stay alive she’d signal. 

The woman left the room and Sakura redoubled her efforts on the poison but she wasn’t given a lot of time. The woman returned without the armour and instead wearing one of Sakura’s outfits. That bitch had gone into her closet!

“Your house is very beautiful,” the woman complimented, “Messy but well cared for. You must love it. I’ll promise to take care of it. I’ll even bury you beneath it.”

She smiled as she spoke, as if she was offering a kindness, and Sakura tried to scowl and failed. 

The woman pulled her sword out again and Sakura only had a brief moment to register the threat before the blade went right through her throat. Sakura gurgled around steel, eyes wide.

The bindings melted away like water as Sakura collapsed. Her own hands shook as she tried to hold her blood in, clasping weakly to her throat as she dropped to the floor. Sakura couldn’t even make a sound other than a wet gasp as the blood splashed on her floor rose into the air like a mist. The woman looked at it carefully and then touched it. Her skin stained red where she doused it in Sakura’s blood and the red travelled up until the woman looked like she was drenched in blood. When she shook her head though, the red floated away like spores and Sakura was looking into her own face; all pink hair and green eyes and even that faint little scar through her eyebrow. 

“My bloodline limit,” the fake-Sakura smiled, “really putting the blood part into it.”

Her voice was a perfect match for Sakura’s and even the way she hitched her shoulders was the same. Sakura cursed through her ruined throat but all that emerged was blood, flecking the corner of her mouth. 

“Shh,” the woman said, leaning over to smooth her hair.

It was eerie to see her own face looking at her so softly. Sakura’s chakra raged in her body, a well-oiled machine as it tried to stitch her throat shut and purge her of such a deadly amount of toxin at the same time. 

Sakura tilted back, away from the enemy’s hands and her back hit a cupboard. the woman, herself, watched smiling indulgently as Sakura kept one hand on her ruined throat and one hand scrabbling against her pristine cupboards. She had a kunai tucked by the sink and she grasped it with wet fingers, vision hazy as she threw it at her double. It was dodged lazily but it gave Sakura enough time to haul her protesting body to its feet and let her slam into the wall by the door. There was a large scroll handing their, a painting done by Sai.

The smear of blood across the ink was like a trigger. In a rush of smoke and sound the innocent looking ink painting of a tiger came roaring to life. Her fake cursed and dodged the blow of enthusiastic claws. Sakura slammed into the living room and dragged herself across, opening the veranda door with shaking fingers and leaving smudged bloody prints on the wood. Sai’s defence would work briefly as it had been aimed at the fake, but her copied chakra signature would throw the thing off in a minute and it would stop attacking. Sai’s ink paintings weren’t intelligent, but they were like a machine. They responded to blood and chakra and while Sakura’s had directed it, the fake would make it stop pretty quickly. 

Sakura practically fell off her own porch in an effort to get into the open. Her feet hit dirt and then Sakura stumbled, fell, and a sword burst through her back and pinned her to the ground like a butterfly pinned to a board. Her fake stood above her, scowling in the moonlight and looking at Sakura as if she was a frustrating toddler, covered in splashes of ink.

Sakura grinned, because the poison was trying to shut her liver and lungs down and her throat was a ruin and the sword through her back was lodged between two ribs, but the explosion of Sai’s ink creation had been a dramatic flare of chakra. 

Her blood gushed out of her throat, spilling across her fingers, and Sakura gurgled through her ruined throat. Her chakra was doing a balancing act, was doing something utterly beautiful for those who understood it. Sakura was in awe of herself as she sat pinned on her knees and thought of how three killing blows had been dealt to her and Sakura was actively keeping herself alive despite them.

If she activated her Seal of a Hundred she’d be healed in an instant, but she also knew the double-edged sword that was her seal; it would take years off her life. All she needed right now was some patience and a little help. 

Her fake cursed, recognizing her smile as one of victory, but it was too late. Sai had made her security paintings with enough chakra that if they burst or were disarmed, they’d flare in a telling way. It was but a brief few seconds before ANBU flickered into her yard. 

For a moment everything was still, a team of ANBU on her fence and roof looking inward at her yard. They took in her fake, standing tall and unbloodied, and took in Sakura with her throat gaping open and a sword pinning her to the ground on her knees. 

“We have an intruder,” her fake said and her voice was strong and clear. 

The ANBU stood silent and Sakura could practically hear them thinking. Her fake was perfect copy, down to scent and chakra feel, down to the genuine clothes she’d stole right out of Sakura’s closet. It was a logic puzzle with desperate prizes and harsh consequences. 

“She came in disguised as an ANBU,” he fake said and she had a perfect expression of distaste and anger twisting her face.

Sakura was actually quite amazed at how genuine that expression was. Perhaps that blood she’d taken did more then physical transformation. The ANBU hesitated like ANBU never did, as if sensing something wrong in the air.

“Sakura,” one called. 

Her fake looked up without an ounce of hesitation, as if she’d answered to that name all her life. But the ANBU still did not leap down to help her, still in their confusion. Because her fake was a perfect copy and if she’d buried Sakura beneath the bones of her house she might have gotten away with her plan.

But Sakura was on her knees, a sword pinning her to the ground through her back and her throat an obvious ruin, and she was still very obviously alive. 

Shinobi understood death blows and they looked at the downed Sakura, in the throes of two obvious ones and still saw someone alive. Very few could say they could have such wounds and still be functioning enough to look up at the ANBU squarely. 

“Sakura,” the ANBU repeated rolling his shoulders.

The voice modulating seal was very good, the hood a shadowing help, and the spook armour perfect to make the ANBU a very mysterious figure. But that roll of the shoulders, that tensing of his fingers was such an obvious tell for someone who had been around him enough to know his posture.

Her fake tilted her head and stayed silent but Sakura threw protocol to the wind.

“T-Tenzo,” Sakura gurgled around her raw throat, blood foaming at her lips.

Swords were out in an instant and her fake lunged at Sakura, knowing the gig was up and knowing who the easiest target was. Unfortunately for her fake, the ANBU were quicker on the draw and very invested in Sakura’s safety.

Roots burst out of the ground with a fury, sharpened and deadly as they went for the intruder’s throat and at the same time put a wall between them and Sakura. Tenzo was at her side in an instant, the other three ANBU a rush of noise as they engaged the enemy. Tenzo hesitated only briefly, hovering over her.

“Sword,” Sakura gurgled.

He pulled it out as swiftly as possibly and Sakura sagged into his arms.

“Tsunade,” she choked out, eyes watering with the pain of forcing any words through her throat, “P-Poison.”

He wasted no time and they were flying through the air. Another pair of ANBU fell instep with them, bounding beside them like an honor guard as more rushed towards the sounds of fighting back at Sakura’s house. Sakura focused every bit of her concentration inward as soon as she was in the safety of Tenzo’s arms. She tried to reinforce her healing while also very carefully keeping herself conscious despite the flaring pain. If she faltered for even a moment, any three of these wounds would kill her. Her throat the fastest as she bled out (and she needed some blood soon already), but the sword through her back had went through a lung, and the poison in such a large dose was already working on her organs. 

The hospital was a spot of brightness in the dark and very ready even for a team of ANBU to crash through the doors with a dying Sakura in their arms. Sakura felt it when she was shifted to a bed and came out of her concentration enough to grasp at Tenzo with her free hand.

“P-poison,” she told the nurse above her as they ran her down the halls, “B-blue octopus.”

There was already a team of doctors surrounding her as she was rushed into a room but she refused to let Tenzo go. She hoped someone had went to get Tsunade and just after they put a needle in her arm leading to a blood bag did her hopes come true. Tsunade burst into the operating room in her sleeping yukata and a towering fury but with her hands still and her eyes sharp. The familiar wash of her green chakra made Sakura practically collapse into herself.

“Keep focusing!” Tsunade snapped, “Don’t quit healing now brat!”

Sakura gurgled. 

The rest of the night was a vivid spinning of healing chakra, the numbness of the poison, and hot blood around her own fingers. And Tenzo’s quite comforting presence at her shoulder, radiating heat even as Tsunade tried to tell him off.

.--.

“Hello? Sakura?”

Sakura slapped the wood of her table instead of yelling and a moment later Naruto ducked into her living room. 

“I just heard the news,” Naruto said eyes worried as he looked over her, “I tried the hospital but they said they’d already released you.”

Under Tsunade’s hands and her own they’d done a good enough job that Sakura had no desire to hold up a hospital bed. She’d stay for the day under observation, the whole ordeal kept quiet as the ANBU took point on the investigation. Even Naruto wouldn’t have been told in the immediate aftermath as they made sure Sakura was safe and secure and alive. 

She flapped a hand and Naruto sat beside her.

“Sorry, gotta talk quiet,” Sakura whispered, “Can’t strain my throat.”

His eyes lingered over the visible stitches on her throat. They’d patched it up more than well enough but it would be tender and weak for a while. Physical stitches were a reminder of her limit; if they strained she was straining the real injury.

“You’re okay though?” he asked, soft and gentle and concerned.

“I’m fine,” she smiled.

Yamato slipped into the room like a silent shadow but Naruto’s eyes found him immediately. 

“Yamato keeping an eye on you then,” he stated instead of asking, “I heard the team got the intruder alive.”

Yamato offered a friendly smile but no information and Naruto gave him a nod before looking at Sakura.

“She wasn’t after me,” Sakura said, “Which is how I lived. She needed me for a few brief minutes, and you know what I can do with a few minutes.”

Naruto nodded solemnly. 

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said leaning over.

Sakura let him bus a kiss against her cheek and offered him another smile.

“But I also curse you because Kakashi is making me do all your work as well as mine this week,” Naruto declared.

She grinned instead of letting herself laugh and he ruffled her hair just to be a brat.

“Hinata sent this for you by the way,” he said setting a small bag down at her feet, “And Sasuke, though he’ll deny it.”

“Tell them thank you,” Sakura rasped. 

“Take care of yourself,” Naruto told her.

He gave Yamato a pointed look that also said ‘take care of her’ and Yamato bowed his head before Naruto was off. 

“Isn’t that sweet,” Sakura said opening the bag. 

A little jar of Hinata’s speciality healing balm sat right next to all the ingredients for smoothies for a few days that would be good for her throat. Yamato took them all from her hand and deposited the things in the fridge and freezer where needed. Then he came back with tea. He bussed his nose across her cheek, quite an intimate gesture from him and she smiled.

.--.

“I’m not supposed to know who you are,” Sakura told him.

Kiba just stared at her, wild eyed. He reached out, tangled a hand in her hair and kissed her open mouthed and feral, his mask on the side of his head. She kissed him back gently.

“Fuck protocol,” he said into her mouth, “It’s not like you don’t know who half of us are anyways.”

She laughed softly into the kiss and let him nose her throat with concern, let him draw his hands across her back. 

“We heard you had been attacked while we were out,” Kiba murmured, “Heard you almost died.”

“Almost is the main word,” Sakura told him, “You know what almost means in our line of work.”

“Almost isn’t good enough,” he said, a smirk flickering to life. 

She kissed him again to reassure him.

“Now get out before Yamato murderers you.”

Yamato, who as standing in the doorway, had his arms crossed and showed no expression but he had his eerie face on. 

“Sorry Captain,” Kiba saluted looking completely unconcerned with the death look.

Kiba left in a clatter, drawing his mask back on as an afterthought.

“Why did you ever think pulling him into ANBU would make him subtle in any way?” Sakura asked Yamato with a smirk.

The eerie expression fell away as Yamato rubbed his forehead in frustration. Sakura laughed at him mercilessly and waved him down for a kiss.

.--.

Sakura gave Cat a smirk as she entered the Hokage’s office. Despite how the ANBU switched masks like they were party favors, she was starting to see past the similar dark uniforms and changing hair colors. She was looking to posture, to the little slouches, to the way some of them twitched. She could see the sweep of a neck she recognized, a flick of the hand. Sakura didn’t know names (well, not many names at least) but she was starting to separate the ANBU as individuals even in their spook outfit and act.

And she knew Cat, who had spent last night in her bed, had been late for work today because of it. Cat shifted and she got the general feeling of amusement from the posture of the other guards. Kakashi must be having some important meetings today to have a full team of visible guards. 

Kakashi, who looked up when she entered, saw the smirk and the reactions. He looked slowly between Sakura’s smug little look and Cat (who had shifted but once which was a scream of embarrassment from anyone else). For a long moment there was silence as Sakura flipped through her papers and Kakashi kept looking at her and then his ANBU. 

“Sakura,” Kakashi said sounding pained, “Please tell me you aren’t having sex with one of my ANBU.”

“I’m not having sex with one of your ANBU,” Sakura said innocently.

There was another stretch of silence and a few twitching shoulders. 

“…Sakura,” Kakashi said, voice hoarse, “Please tell me you aren’t having sex with more than one of my ANBU.”

Sakura bit her lip to contain her smirk.

“Sakura,” Kakashi said, his eyes pained as he looked at her.

“Kakashi,” she returned making her eyes wide and guileless, “I don’t want to lie to you, sensei.”

He stared at her as if she’d killed a puppy in front of him: betrayed and horrified. His eyes went to the ANBU in his office, lingering on the two that shifted and skipping the one who crossed his arms in denial. Then he looked straight to the Owl masked ANBU who was obviously the leader. He was also very obviously Yamato under the mask with the way Kakashi treated him so familiarly. Owl was perfectly still under his Hokage’s stare. And then he cracked, twitching his shoulders; a scream of guilt. 

“My cute little student,” Kakashi said as he stood, pushing away from his desk, “I must avenge her honor! You have betrayed me!”

Then because he was a drama-queen he charged his hand with lightening and lunged at his ANBU. Sakura laughed cheerfully and continued sorting the work on his desk as he leapt about yelling about betrayal and trying to tag the ANBU with lightening. He needed them today so he wouldn’t do any damage she knew. 

He got one of the slower guys and Sakura watched the ANBU drop twitching as they got shocked.

Okay. He wouldn’t damage them _too_ much. 

“Oh,” Naruto said as he walked in on the scene, “Did Kakashi finally realize you’re sleeping with the entirety of ANBU.”

Kakashi made a noise like a deflating balloon and stopped the lightening he had shocking the hell out of Cat.

“The entirety?” he said.

“Not completely,” Sakura chirped, “But maybe one day.”

He stared at her.

“Kouhai,” he said turning to look at the ANBU Yamato, “This is your fault.”

“My fault?” Yamato asked, incredulous, voice modulating seal making him sound old and grumpy. 

“You should have seduced her,” Kakashi stated.

“He did,” Sakura leered at the Owl Mask.

“I meant earlier,” Kakashi accused, “Then I wouldn’t have to look at every ANBU mask and wonder if it’s been in your bed and seen you naked. How could you do this to me Sakura?”

“Oh quite easily,” Sakura said, “Do you want details on how? Because I’ll tell you, Cat there does this really wonderful-”

“LALALALALALA!” Naruto and Kakashi started yelling in tandem.

Sakura laughed hard enough she had to grasp the edge of the Hokage’s desk. Yamato helped keep her standing as she laughed hard enough to collapse.

God, she thought, Life was good.

.--.


End file.
